Propeller.com Stories submitted by nicholas

Karen Dalton: A Reluctant Voice, Rediscovered : NPR Music

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:46:38 EDT

Karen Dalton's new album, Green Rocky Road, was 45 years in the making. The folk singer made the record at her cabin in Colorado with nothing but a 12-string guitar, a banjo and her voice. Joe Loop captured the recordings on a reel-to-reel tape deck in 1963.

Channel: Music Tags: karen dalton

Twenty years of Babes, Girls, and Sleater-Kinney | AfterEllen.com

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:33:53 EDT

Seattle-based record label Sub Pop Records is throwing a party for its 20th birthday. Unfortunately, some of its best acts from over the years will be missing. While Sub Pop has been female friendly in the past, it seems as if many of their great girl artists have left the business (at least for now.)

Channel: Music Tags: sub pop women sleater kinney l7

Brooklyn Vegan Now Just Posting Photos of Random Cute Indie Girls

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:33:27 EDT

Popular indie-music blog Brooklyn Vegan has long been a bastion of local concert news and photojournalism, providing minimal original writing but many high-quality shots of all our favorite artists rocking it out. But as the summer concert season kicks into full swing, we can't help but notice that the site's photos now have a disturbing new subjec

Channel: Music Tags: brooklyn vegan concert pictures sexist

Read Street: Atomic Books, Atomic Pop, it's all awesome

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:27:23 EDT

By the end of the month, Atomic Books will be gone. But don't worry -- it's just moving down the street, to the bigger space currently occupied solely by Atomic Pop.

Channel: Books Tags: atomic books bookstore baltimore

Heaven knows our music's miserable now - News, Music - The Independent

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:25:57 EDT

What with the miserable summer weather and seemingly endless threats of economic meltdown, people could be forgiven for feeling a little down in the dumps. All across the country wallets are being tightened, Benidorm forsaken for Bognor, M&S traded for Primark.

Channel: Music Tags: glum music england

globeandmail.com: ON THE STAND: A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THE BEST MAGAZINE READS ON THE RACKS

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:25:52 EDT

Last month Bob Dylan endorsed Barack Obama's candidacy for the U.S. presidency. Which proved a good thing for Rolling Stone founder and publisher Jann Wenner when he sat down recently for a convo with the Democratic standard-bearer. Wenner, who's 62, has been a Dylanologist for decades, and, in interviews, has a tendency to ask a Dylan-themed quest

Channel: Books Tags: magazines the believer

Questions for Patti Smith - She Is a Punk Rocker

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:23:58 EDT

At the age of 61, you are about to be newly lionized in the forthcoming "Patti Smith: Dream of Life," a documentary by Steven Sebring that took a decade to complete. The film has some wonderful footage of you and your family, but why are there no interviews with critics or fellow performers or scholars who could provide a context for your

Channel: Music Tags: patti smith

Lyle Lovett sells millions, earns nothing - Yahoo! News

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:23:16 EDT

Lyle Lovett says he has "never made a dime" from album sales during his two-decade career, and hopes to rectify that situation when his contract expires.

Channel: Music Tags: lyle lovett

Mountain Goats' John Darnielle pens book Black Sabbath

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:20:39 EDT

As part of the Mountain Goats, John Darnielle has developed a unique brand of short-story singer-songwriter music with references to Greek classics and the Bible, witty lines, occasionally dark humor, emotional insight, and absolutely genius cover songs.

Channel: Music Tags: mountain goats black sabbath ozzy

Stay Positive | Music Review | Entertainment Weekly

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:18:59 EDT

Oh, brave new leaky world. When the Hold Steady's thrilling fourth album, Stay Positive, hit file-sharing services seven weeks before its release date, fans weren't sure whether to embrace it as an early Christmas gift or bemoan the leak as a blow to the group's breakthrough chances. Their label tried to turn some of the illicit downloads into lici

Channel: Music Tags: the hold steady

Culture: 'The Wire' needs tightening up - Regulars, The New Review - The Independent

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:18:16 EDT

The fifth and final season of The Wire Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" the best American TV show ever broadcast, according to Jacob Weisberg, the editor of Slate Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" will make its British debut on 21 July... on the little-known

Channel: Television Tags: the wire

TheStar.com | Books | Overdue applause for comics pioneer

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:53:03 EDT

Less well known Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" and less well compensated Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" are the artists who rendered Lee's fantasias, and sometimes served as unofficial co-writers, too. So there's a distinct air of redress in a couple of

Channel: Books Tags: steve ditko marvel spiderman

DCist: DCist Interview: Alejandro Escovedo

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:51:38 EDT

It's tempting to call Austin, Texas country-rocker Alejandro Escovedo the Forrest Gump of indie rock, but he deserves to be associated with a much better movie. In 1978, his first band, San Francisco punkers The Nuns, opened the last-ever Sex Pistols show prior to the Pistols' brief mid-90s reunion. He was living in the Chelsea Hotel in New York Ci

Channel: Music Tags: alejandra escovedo the nuns punk country

Guitar hero Nels Cline balances Wilco duties with improv trio | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:51:17 EDT

About 50,000 people got a new guitar hero at last year's Bonnaroo, watching Nels Cline Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" playing with rock critical favorites Wilco Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" toss one blistering solo after another out into the massive fi

Channel: Music Tags: wilco nels cline

Soaring gasoline prices curtail musicians' touring plans 07/13/08

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:49:26 EDT

Any bands that depend on driving from town to town to make a living and promote their music in smaller clubs are discovering that gasoline prices exceeding $4 a gallon are gobbling up what little financial wiggle room they had and putting a crimp in their style.

Channel: Music Tags: gas prices tour musician

Sub Pop Records -- chicagotribune.com

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:48:24 EDT

The Seattle independent record label begins life in 1979 as a fanzine written by former Illinois resident Bruce Pavitt, in which he extols his favorite underground bands while attending Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. Pavitt later moves to Seattle and begins putting out compilations of Pacific Northwest punk bands. In 1987, he joins force

Channel: Music Tags: sub pop record label

Pop music: Bands don't always get their share - The Denver Post

nicholas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:42:01 EDT

When asked how much money his band collects for an average show, Gregg Dolan laughs. The singer-guitarist behind indie-pop quintet the Kissing Party counts off his band's booty as if he's telling a joke Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" and the punch line is the number that comes after the dollar sign.

Channel: Music Tags: touring bands pay marketing gig

It's American Brandstand - Marketers Underwrite Performers - NYTimes.com

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:22:10 EDT

The hip-hop and R&B producer Jermaine Dupri has discovered best-selling acts like Kris Kross and Da Brat, has produced hits for Mariah Carey and Jay-Z, and now runs the urban music division of the Island Def Jam Music Group. He's also looking for fresh talent for a new label financed by a company new to the music industry.

Channel: Music Tags: hip hop insurance

How MGMT Figured Out How to Earn Their Buzz -- New York Magazine

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:21:40 EDT

Some bands sell their souls to attain hotness. Some have it thrust upon them, like MGMT, which began this year as New York's other hot band. The buzz then was dominated by Vampire Weekend, those excitable preppies with a weakness for Paul Simon's Graceland. Unlike Vampire Weekend, the two multi-instrumentalists behind MGMT weren't quite prepared fo

Channel: Music Tags: mgmt

Entertainment | The Long Winters indulge demanding crowd at Seattle homecoming

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:19:39 EDT

In a moment, the band fell back, stage lights turned outward over the audience, and a full floor of bouncing bodies screamed the lyrics, mimicking singer John Roderick's plaintive vocal take and adding its own desperate joy. "Start...please, start. Please start!"

Channel: Music Tags: the long winters john roderick

Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman | Pitchfork

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:18:25 EDT

It starts simply enough: you offer to put out a local band's record-- maybe friends of yours-- and you insist that it will be "huge." But you keep telling the joke. The joke becomes a motto, the motto becomes a t-shirt, the t-shirt becomes a brand, and somewhere along the way, one band's profile explodes into a full-on national hysteria,

Channel: Music Tags: sub pop shins

Best CDs So Far: Listener Picks : NPR Music

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:18:17 EDT

The results are in: After several weeks of tallying votes, we've got a pretty good idea of what NPR listeners think are the best CDs so far in 2008. Many were albums we've already covered this year on the show, but there were plenty of others we never got to. On this edition of All Songs Considered we'll look at the poll results and play some of th

Channel: Music Tags: npr listener picks best 2008

Taking Kindle To The Pool : NPR

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:16:42 EDT

People who like to read also like books Ã;Â¢Ã¢â;;Â¬" the feel of them in their hands, the look of the printed word on a paper page. So it's no surprise that the advent of the electronic book has been greeted with a mixture of skepticism and curiosity.

Channel: Gadgets & Tech Tags: kindle amazon

Can Scrabble fight Scrabulous on Facebook? - VentureBeat

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:15:36 EDT

Electronic Arts has taken many months to get its official Hasbro-licensed version of Scrabble onto the Web at Pogo.com and Facebook, but it's launching the Pogo.com version today and will have the Facebook version out later this month. In the meantime, an unlicensed version of Scrabble created by Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla of Calcutta, India, has b

Channel: Video Games Tags: scabble scrabulous pogo facebook

The Hospital Club 100 revealed - Media, News - The Independent

nicholas — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:24:06 EDT

The inaugural The Hospital Club 100 was launched in June this year in association with The Independent Media Weekly. It's a search for the authentic stars of Britain's creative industries.

Channel: Art & Design Tags: banksy uk hospital club top 100

Down on the farm | Glastonbury 2008 | guardian.co.uk Music

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:18:16 EDT

Big stars get back to nature at Glastonbury every year, but what do they really know about country life? Could they milk a cow, make hay or ride a horse? To find out, G2 set up its own miniature farmyard backstage and Laura Barton went wild with everyone from Franz Ferdinand to Shakin' Stevens

Channel: Music Tags: glastonbury

'The Book of Getting Even' by Benjamin Taylor - Los Angeles Times

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:17:44 EDT

Of cosmology and so much more: In this novel, three young people come of age in the 1970s amid the discord of their families.

Channel: Books Tags: the book of getting even benjamin taylor

opbmusic.org - Studio Performance: Perhapst

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:15:27 EDT

Probably best known for his current gig as Decemberists drummer, John Moen's musical vita reads like a who's who of indie music over the past fifteen years or so. After co-founding the Dharma Bums in 1987, he went on to play with the likes of Elliott Smith, Heatmiser, and Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, among others, in addition to fronting The Ma

Channel: Music Tags: perhapst

Dressing Sharp and Feeling Dull: Fight Week: Jay Farrar vs. Jeff Tweedy

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:15:18 EDT

One time my friend Dan and I spent a train ride to the city arguing over which US President would win in a Battle Royal. I chose Washington. I think he chose Teddy Roosevelt. He was probably right. He usually is.

Channel: Music Tags: jay farrar jeff tweedy wilco son volt

Terrastock 7 | Backseat Sandbar

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:14:24 EDT

Terrastock started kicked off Thursday night with some of our Favorite local bands, The Photographic and Parlour, along with Elephant Michah, Dead Maids and Hush Arbors (the last three of which I missed). After both The Photographic and Parlour though, the shockingly large crowd for the first show and Thursday night of the Festival, the 80% out-of

Channel: Music Tags: terrastock psyche

Slant Magazine - Pragmatic Romance: An Interview with David Berman

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:11:55 EDT

Though he says otherwise, it's hard to think of an American songwriter as admired by fans and critics as David Berman. His band, Silver Jews, has often lingered in the shadow of the more popular Pavement (since the band featured Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich, Silver Jews were frequently written off as just a Pavement side project), but Berman

Channel: Music Tags: david berman silver jews

Green Sci-Fi from Bacigalupi's 'Pump Six' : NPR

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:10:31 EDT

Sci-fi writer Paolo Bacigalupi uses real environmental science as a starting point for his stories. His collection, called Pump Six, describes a near future where massive droughts create a black market for calories.

Channel: Books Tags: pump six paolo bacigalupi

Slant Magazine - 2520: The 25 Greatest Electronic Albums of the 20th Century

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:09:47 EDT

Five years ago, Electronica was poised to save us from the grungy din of a dying Alternative and an increasingly formulaic Hip-Hop. Detroit and Chicago had become adjectives, Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers were storming the charts, mainstream magazines began running monthly "What You Need To Know About Jungle" articles, and DJs like Pa

Channel: Music Tags: top 25 electronic music albums

Lexington | The politics of hip-hop | Economist.com

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:09:21 EDT

WRITING about music is like dancing about architecture," intoned Elvis Costello, a pop star. So a columnist approaches the subject of hip-hop (which includes rap) with caution. One cannot hope to capture its sound or fury on the page. Instead, Lexington will ask what it signifies.

Channel: Music Tags: hip hop politics

How Foreigners See America - American Pop Culture - Esquire

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:00:48 EDT

Chuck Klosterman goes to Germany to teach a class. His students teach him a lesson about how the world views us.

Channel: Books Tags: chuck klosterman america

50 songs to make you dance - Telegraph 50 songs to make you dance - Telegraph

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:00:40 EDT

The Telegraph's music critics pick their top 50 tunes to get you onto the dancefloor

Channel: Music Tags: english dance disco

Michigan's inaugural Rothbury festival aims to find its niche | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:57:51 EDT

Maybe it's the result of tightening economics in the concert industry. Perhaps it's a reflection of our changing music tastes. Maybe we're just finally catching up with Europe. Advertisement

Channel: Music Tags: rothbury festival summer michigan

BBC - Newsbeat - Music - Glastonbury buzz bands rated

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:56:24 EDT

Measuring about two miles from end to end and with more than twenty stages, Glastonbury is just too big to be able to see everything. With most of the attention focused on artists like Jay-Z and Amy Winehouse, Newsbeat has been taking a look at five very different performances you may not have read about.

Channel: Music Tags: glastonbury

Five questions for . . . The National | Metro.co.uk

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:47:42 EDT

Matt Berninger is the frontman of Brooklyn indie-rockers The National. Preceding their summer dates in the UK, the band released The Virginia EP and A Skin, A Night, a film by French director Vincent Moon.

Channel: Music Tags: the national

Liz Phair | Pitchfork

nicholas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:47:35 EDT

Liz Phair is spending most of 2008 living in the past. She's composing music for the potentially controversial CBS show "Swingtown", about sex, marriage, and key parties in the 1970s. In addition, Phair has been readying the reissue of her gutsy, glorious 1993 album Exile in Guyville, which she is playing in its entirety in acoustic shows

Channel: Music Tags: liz phair